Playing For Love

by J. C. Grant

  I needed to call Elaine.

  “No. She's waiting outside right now.” I restrained the urge to tell her, “Stop trying. My wife's tits are bigger and real.” Instead, I took a calming breath and asked, “So, is the food ready?” nodding toward the bags behind her.

  “Oh, yes.” She hurriedly set the bags in front of me.

  Knowing the total was seventy something, I tossed a hundred down and grabbed the bags. The girl was taking too long. I couldn't tell if it was intentional or she was just flustered. Whatever it was, I didn't have the patience for it.

  “David,” she called.

  “Just keep it,” I tossed over my shoulder as I pushed open the door with my forearm.

  Getting in the truck, I settled the bags at Austin's feet. I took a deep breath, buckling my seat belt, trying to force myself to relax. Looking over at her, I couldn't stop the guilt I felt. I had done this to her, because of my insecurities. I made sure our marriage was on every media outlet possible. She had wanted it quiet, she tried to warn me about this and I ignored her completely.

  I was a fucking asshole.

  She looked over, catching me staring at her, and smiled. As she watched me her expression shifted to concern. “Everything okay, babe?”

  “Just disturbingly in love with my wife,” I answered, putting the truck in gear, focusing on getting us home, not thinking about any more rumors floating around about her.

  We still hadn't ironed out the baseball deal yet. She said it was the right choice financially, not that she wanted me to. If I did, it was going to put off her short-film for a while or anything else she might want to do. She was going to have to travel with me—Chance too. Not to mention Spring Training.

  As I pulled up to our gate, waiting for it to open, I checked my phone. I had gotten a small reprieve from Dawn's endless phone calls, but Zach was still going strong.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  “David, it's early.”

  “What the fuck is going on?” I asked Elaine as I cooked breakfast. “Why do people think my marriage is a rumor started by her agent?”

  “Well—” Elaine's voice echoed from my phone on the counter.

  “I don't even know who her agent is,” I cut her off.

  “Let me talk.” She waited. “Her agent is a douche. I'm working on getting her a new one, but you need to let her out of the house, David.”

  “We go to the gym every day,” I corrected.

  “The gym is private, with a private, gated parking lot. The only pics of the two of you are the ones you sent me for your social media, which looks very much like a publicity stunt when no one ever sees you two out together.”

  “What about the furniture store?” I asked, glaring at my phone as if it was responsible for my current problem.

  “That's the only public pics since you got married. If you want her to be one of those hidden wives, tell her. Tell me. But if you want her to have a career, let her out.”

  I didn't respond. I plated the omelets, trying to come up with a solution that wouldn't make me insane.

  “Just let her go somewhere that isn't under your control, somewhere people can see you together.”

  “We're going to the Chateau tonight for our two week anniversary.”

  “Good. I'll have someone there to get photos. But that's not enough, David. Let her go shopping. Let her go to the grocery store. Get her nails done. Anything.”

  “I'm not letting her go out.”

  “David, I know those two cheated on you, but it was only two.”

  “You're forgetting the groupie when I first started playing. The one who turned out to be married with a kid.” I hated thinking about this shit. I wasn't in love with any of them, but those girls... That type of behavior turned out to be the standard over the years. “And those two, they were the only girlfriends I've had in eight years. Ever, actually.”

  “You saw them a couple times a month. That's why they cheated. You didn't spend any time with them.” She paused. “Spending every minute of every day with Austin isn't going to prevent her from cheating.”

  “I disagree.” I poured our coffees, automatically making Austin's the way she liked it: two and a half tablespoons of French vanilla creamer. “It's working so far.”

  “You're going to smother her. David, give her space, because when she starts asking for it, that's when you need to worry.”

  Fuck. I knew she wasn't use to being with someone twenty-four/seven. Maybe that's what her behavior was about yesterday. She asked to go out on a date, but was she one step away from asking to go out without me?

  I put everything on the tray and picked it up one-handed and started toward the bedroom.

  “I'll take her out in public more.” I walked into the bedroom. Austin was still dead asleep. “Tonight at the Chateau and tomorrow she has that photoshoot.”

  “I'll have someone there. Are you going to be with her?”

  “Yes.”

  Austin

  I didn’t know how long I had been lying in bed when I heard David's deep rumble. He was telling someone about us going to the Chateau and my photoshoot, but I could smell coffee and that's all that really mattered to me at the moment. I opened my eyes, feigning just waking as he ended his call.

  “Everything okay?” My unused voice was rough as I sat up.

  “Why won't you just ask me who it was?” he countered, slipping his phone into his pocket.

  “I don't want to be nosy,” I uttered, sitting up.

  “Be fucking nosy,” he ordered in a sexy rasp.

  I watched his hard body—that distracting V, the cut muscles of his arms twitching and jumping as his came toward me.

  “It was Elaine.”

  I nodded.

  His eyebrows lifted in an expression that clearly said, Ask another question.

  “I'm not interested now.”

  Setting the tray down on the bed, he sat on the edge next to me with a heavy sigh.

  David was being weird last night, but not aggressive. This morning it seemed whatever was bothering him had gotten worse.

  I watched him for a long moment, then clumsily picked up my coffee, causing the plates to bump into each other.

  He turned at the sound. “Here.” He put the tray over my lap, grabbed his coffee, and paused. Then abruptly asked, “If I cheated on you, would you stay with me?”

  My heart lurched into my throat.

  “Fuck no,” I managed to push out.

  His eyebrows pulled together as he looked at me. “Really?”

  “Did you?” I breathed, barely audible.

  “How could I? I fuck you every chance I get, and when am I not with you?”

  “Before we got married or your photoshoots.” My quick response showed this was something I had put a bit too much thought into. There wasn't much time, but he could have. “Or when I was at that temp job.”

  He ignored me and asked, “Do you think I'd stay with you if you cheated?”

  This was seriously heavy conversation for first thing in the morning.

  “No,” I spoke around the lump in my throat. “I know you said you would, but I don't know if I could stay with you if I cheated.”

  “Really?” He studied me intently.

  “I don't think so.” I swallowed thickly, my pulse pounding through my temples, my face heating. “And I don't know why you want to fuck up my day with this conversation... unless you want to tell me you cheated.”

  “I didn't. I fucking promise you,” he swore vehemently. “I just wanna—”

  “I don't want to know what will happen if you cheat,” I cut him off, “or if I cheat. I don't want to fucking find out.” My words spilled out of me in an anxious rush.

  He blew out a heavy sigh but said nothing.

  Was that the problem? He thought I was going to cheat because he cheated?

  But I didn't think he had.

  David

  I was an asshole. I put that shit in her head just because it was in mine.


  Get it together!

  I knew everything she did on her phone and there was a tracker on her car. I had to fucking fix this.

  I looked over at her mostly untouched breakfast and sighed, resigned, knowing I fucked up her morning. I picked up the tray, took it into the kitchen, got her a fresh cup of coffee, and went back into the bedroom.

  “I'm worried you might want someone else,” I admitted, setting the coffee down on her nightstand.

  “And I love that,” she said forcefully, “but don't make me feel like you've been cheating. If that's all that’s wrong, fucking say it. First.”

  Stupid fuck.

  I made this more complicated than necessary.

  “I'm going to schedule you for a session of eight colonics,” I mentioned as I walked around to my side of the bed.

  “Was there... something...?” She sounded equally embarrassed and horrified. She couldn't even bring herself to finish the question. She had to be an anal virgin, and that made me so fucking happy.

  “It's normal, but my cock is bigger than my finger.” I winked at her. “We're gonna get you ready for when you are ready.”

  “I know it's normal. But what? You think I'm going to be begging for it in eight weeks?”

  That stopped me short. “What do you mean you know?”

  “I've had anal sex before,” she said, flippantly, rolling her eyes.

  I was instantly pissed. And jealous. I wanted some part of her to myself. “You've had anal sex? But you don't want me to fuck you in the ass?” I paused, the image of a man doing exactly that to her raced through my mind. Then I demanded, “Who fucked you in the ass? Zach?”

  “David, stop. Your dick is huge. That's why I don't want it in my ass.”

  “So how many dicks have you had in your ass, Austin?”

  “At one time?” she tried to joke.

  My eyes narrowed, my voice was a low warning. “Not. Fucking. Funny.”

  “Two.” At my expression, she clarified. “Not at the same time. Two different guys. Two completely separate relationships.”

  “Who?” I demanded, trying to level my voice and failing.

  “David, I let them because they were small. That's the only reason.”

  “Was it Zach?”

  “Stop it.”

  “One was Zach, wasn't it? You let that weaselly piece of shit fuck you in the ass.”

  “No. It wasn't him.”

  My phone chimed and I checked it.

  Of course, fucking Dawn.

  My eyes closed and I breathed deep, thinking. Jealousy spurred a morbid curiosity in me that was raging, but I couldn't do this to us right now—not when Dawn and Zach were already fucking us up.

  I choked down my need for answers and got back on topic as my eyes opened and cut to her.

  “I'm scheduling your first appointment for today. You're getting a colonic, massage, and manicure. And whatever else you want.”

  She hesitated. “What? By myself?”

  I was hoping that was a complaint—that she wanted me to go with her. And then I couldn't stop myself. “Of course not. I'm going with you. It's our two week anniversary. Day at the spa. Night at the Chateau.”

  “Are you getting a colonic too?”

  I refrained from gritting my teeth and responded evenly, “Will it make you happy?”

  She had a mischievous look on her face as she pretended to think about it. “Yes.”

  “Okay.”

  She looked at me from the corner of her eye like she didn't believe me, a smirk on her face.

  Fuck, I'd do anything for this girl.

  I called the spa and made arrangements for a couple’s day. Including colonics. I was even going to endure a man’s mani-pedi, whatever the fuck that was.

  “Do whatever you need to do. We have to be there in forty minutes.”

  “What?” She scrambled out of bed and into the bathroom.

  I didn't understand the need to get ready other than washing her face and brushing her teeth. But I was happy to see her excitement replace her worry.

  “Don't we shower before? And sauna. Or hot tub or whatever?”

  She appeared in the bathroom doorway. “Yes,” she answered, annoyed with me or my question. “Would you go get dressed? I'm washing my face and brushing my teeth.”

  “Yes, ma'am.” I grinned as she ran back into the bathroom.

  I totally understood now. When I was younger, I heard about the guys who would let their girlfriends paint their toenails and put makeup on them. At the time, I couldn't understand why they would do it if they didn't like it. I did now. I'd let Austin do damn near anything she wanted to me if it made her happy.

  Everything but cheat on me or leave me.

  I wouldn't let her do those things to me.

  Austin

  I quickly threw on a black tee, skinny sweats, and flip-flops and grabbed my purse off the closet island—where I'd left it the night before. When I emerged from the closet only ten minutes later, I noticed David was wearing his sweats, white tee, and flip-flops—at least we weren't completely matching. David was putting Chance's toys in his bed and talking to him. I felt bad every time we left the house without him. It looked like I wasn't the only one.

  “Is he good?” I asked, walking over to rub Chance's big nugget head.

  “I think so.” He turned, facing me. “You ready?”

  “Yeah.” I kissed Chance's nose and followed David out. It was adorable how he kept glancing back at Chance, checking on him. I started to realize then maybe he was ready for a baby.

  But I definitely wasn't.

  “I want to drive my car,” I mentioned as we walked through the great room. I hadn't driven my car since I quit my job.

  “You know where we're goin’?” He opened the door to the garage.

  “Yeah. Sunset and Laurel. Straight down the hill.”

  “Crescent Heights,” he corrected.

  Laurel turned into Crescent Heights. He was being an ass.

  “Same thing.” I got in my car and that new car smell enveloped my senses.

  “Other side of Sunset,” he said as he got in the passenger’s seat.

  “Is this because I'm driving?”

  “I like to drive,” he grumbled.

  Such a fucking baby. I know how to get him.

  “I love driving my new car.” I looked over at him and lowered my voice to a breathy rasp. “The sexiest man I have ever seen gave it to me.” I put my hand on his thigh, rubbing in long strokes. “And every time I drive it... makes me want to do filthy things to him.”

  He smiled and relaxed, settling back in the seat. His smile turned to a devilish grin as he made a show of adjusting himself.

  Clearing my throat, I focused on getting out of the driveway without damaging the car. Then I easily maneuvered the car through the neighborhood and quickly down to Sunset. “She's a beast. I love her,” I muttered as we sat at the stoplight.

  His hand landed on my inner thigh, pushing up into my sex.

  “Do you love this beast more?” His other hand gripped his hard length. The swollen head pushed out from under the band of his sweats.

  “Yeah.” My voice was breathless. Biting my lip, I reached over, brushing my fingers over the exposed smooth skin. “I definitely love this beast more.”

  His hips thrust up instinctively.

  “I wanna fuck before we get in there.” His crude words and his voice, thick with arousal, seduced me effortlessly.

  His fingers pressed into my clit through the thin material of my pants as I pulled into the underground garage.

  “Come on, sweet girl. Real quick,” he coaxed with a raspy voice and skilled fingers as I parked.

  Turning the car off, I unbuckled and shifted to lean over the console.

  “Wait. I wanna fuck you,” he said, quickly unbuckling and pushing his waistband down, freeing his swollen length.

  “You can fuck my mouth,” I breathed before sweeping my tongue over the crown. His deep gr
oan had my core clenching.

  “Oh, fuck. Get your ass up,” he groaned, his hand shoving down the back of my pants with desperation.

  I leaned on the console, lifting my hips. Gripping the base of his heavy cock, I took the head into my mouth. Then three thick fingers were sinking into me from behind, sending a shiver through me. He pulled my hair out of the way, fisting it behind my neck. I felt his eyes on me, watching as I lowered my mouth down his throbbing length. His distinct smell invaded my senses, making my mouth water, coating his cock.

  “Yeah, get my cock nice a wet,” he said excitedly.

  I moaned when his hips thrust up, forcing me to take more of him.

  “Oh fuck. You look so good with my cock in your mouth, sweetheart,” he breathed while plunging his fingers in and out of me. Overcome with arousal, my hips tilted, opening up to give him better access. “Just like that. Your cunt feels so good,” he groaned.

  His hips pumped up, fucking my mouth. I lowered down, letting him hit the back of my throat with each thrust, triggering my gag reflex. The tension started building in my body and I sucked harder, hallowing out my cheeks. Working through it, I was determined to make him come in record time.

  “Yeah, suck my cock. Suck it.” His raspy demand had me rocking into his pounding fingers. Seconds later, a slick finger rubbed against my puckered flesh before steadily pushing in.

  I cried out around his length, but my body bucked, thrusting back, wanting more.

  “Yeah. Fuck my fingers while I fuck your mouth.” His heavy breaths filled the car, the smell of our sexes mingling with the new car smell. The hand behind my neck started forcing me down, forcing me to take more. All of it. “You love it,” he muttered smugly. “Me fucking all your holes.”

  I moaned at his words, at the sexy noises he made, feeling his movements lose their coordination. Knowing he was close, I sucked harder, feeling my core tightening.

  “You're making me come. Oh fuck, you're making me come.” His fingers slid along my walls, rubbing and pressing.